He was there, and then he just… wasn’t. I didn’t know how to explain it because it didn’t make any sense to me either.
“Hello?” I called into the blackness, but no one and nothing answered back. The feeling I’d had of someone watching me was gone. I was truly alone now.
Sufficiently creeped out now, I decided to head back to campus. It was getting late and I didn’t have Propanga to help me sneak back in past curfew this time. I picked up my pace the last couple of blocks until I made it to those familiar gates.
Once I was safely back in my room, I looked out the window, wondering if he was still out there, outside those gates. All I could see from my room was the lush gardens in the back of the property. It was a beautiful space, but it didn’t allow me to see out into the street of the town.
I was pretty sure they’d done that so the town of Mystic couldn’t see in at us. We were here to learn how to hide our secret, but not everyone was doing a good job of that.
Every time of the new vamps lost control, their fangs would pop out, eyes would turn red and sometimes their skin would start to go really pale. And if they couldn’t get them to calm down on their own, that’s when Aurel, the keeper, would have to sedate them. I have no idea what was in those little vials they kept locked up in the Headmaster’s office, but it put even the wildest vampire down in a heartbeat.
I had seen some new vamps getting would up and trying to fight everyone in sight. They looked pure animalistic; it was wild! And then they’d come in with one shot of that stuff and they’d be out cold.
Aurel and Hera were the usual “cleanup crew”. If a new vampire could be rehabilitated, but just needed a cooling off period, they had a dungeon-like basement full of unbreakable cages they took them to. They’d dose ‘em with the stuff in the vial, drag them down to the basement to cool off, and bring ‘em back up when their urges had settled, or they had better learned to control themselves.
But when they couldn’t be tamed… or when they had broken a core rule, Hera would put them down; sometimes right then and there, with her special stake. I still couldn’t get anyone to tell me the secrets of what made that one so special, only that it contained magic that would work against a vampire.
No one would say what kind of magic, or where it came from, or why it was in Hera’s possession. I figured it was above my paygrade to know and at this point, the less time I spent around Hera’s stake, the better.
Chapter 17
It was safe to say I was settling into vampire life as good as anyone. In fact, I was doing even slightly better than the average human who had been turned without their knowledge. For now, everything was fine, but I would be lying if I didn’t say I was a bit unsettled by it all. There were moments – especially late at night – when it hit me. The reality of it all sunk in and I realized this was not a dream that I was set to wake from any minute.
Partying off campus with the locals could have gotten me expelled and getting expelled from Vampire Academy meant getting a stake in your heart so you didn’t wake up tomorrow. That wasn’t really my idea of a good time, if you know what I’m saying.
Maybe I should tone it done for a bit, at least until the excitement wore off and I wasn’t being watched so closely. We had almost gotten caught last time we snuck in, plus Hera had made some vague threat the other day about how she was “watching me” and not to try “any funny business”. Whatever that means…
It was a bummer, but some things cannot be avoided. Besides, I had a thousand lifetimes to get as freaky as I wanted, as soon as I graduated from the Academy.
All those hot guys and girls were just going to have to wait…
Except, I had virtually no self-control before becoming a vampire and one thing they had not taught me at the Academy was how to fix that little problem. I was horny and impulsive, and that wasn’t a good mix for a girl who was supposed to be nice and follow the rules.
That was how I decided to give it one last final HOORAH before I gave it up for good. My lust was insatiable. It wasn’t fair… giving me all this vampire horniness and not allowing me to release it. Who made up these damn rules anyway?
Astrid said that was why vamps were allowed to hook up with other vamps, even at campus. As long as you made it to your classes and followed the rules, they didn’t much care if you had full-on orgies. In fact, I secretly suspected that was exactly what some of the older students were doing. And maybe that would be fun. But here I was stuck with a bunch of scared newbies who didn’t want to have any fun.
Except for Astrid… that girl was always down for some fun. I giggled to myself thinking about it. Maybe it would be okay to have a hookup here at campus, but I wasn’t sure I wanted it to be Astrid. Not because I didn’t like her, trust me, I did. In fact, it was because I liked her. I didn’t want to ruin a good friendship when I could bone anyone. And I was not looking for anything serious right now, that’s for sure.
Being that we were immortal, I suppose it made sense to only partner up with other vamps, but I wasn’t sure I had come around to the idea. They could preach the benefits to me all day long, but I still had reservations, even after my little romp with Astrid.
Imagine having to cross paths with your ex for all of, you know, eternity? Nah, getting involved with other vampires seemed like a recipe for disaster.
And this is how I ended up going out for five more nights in a row and hooking up with townies. There was that girl Becky, in Connecticut on a business trip from New York. She was so sweet, cute, and smelled like strawberries.
Next there was Benny and Sara, a nice conservative couple from further upstate who were looking to mix things up with a third for one-night of thrills. They really came out of their shells!
Finally, I had my fun with Kitty, a regular at the bar on 2nd street where I met most of these people as they were passing through Mystic on vacation. People really love to get wild and let loose on vacation. Not that I could blame them!
Too bad Propanga had to remind me of that stupid rule: No fraternizing with the humans. Now, all of that was in the past for me, at least until after graduation. At least, that’s what I had promised her…
Ugh, this was a lose-lose-lose situation any way you looked at it. I mean, those guys wanted to be with me, and I wanted them. It was consensual and we were all adults. And I was always very careful. The last thing I wanted was to put someone else through the same torture “Mr. Knight” had put me through. No, thank you.
I had NO intentions of accidentally turning a human. I just wanted to have a bit of fun. I mean, what’s the point of eternal life if you couldn’t enjoy it? What was the point of immortality if you were in a constant state of fear?
These rules were like shackles on my wrists and ankles, and I wanted to be free. And there were so many rules to memorize, sometimes I just felt like throwing the whole thing out the window.
Which is how I ended up leaving the bar with two cuties who told me their names were Julian and Oliver, but I had a feeling those were just aliases they gave to strangers they met at bars and then went home with. You’d think I had learned my lesson about that last time, yet here I was.
So here I was, walking down the sidewalk just a few feet in front of the gates to Mystic River Vampire Academy, one cute boy attached to each arm, and feeling pretty damn drunk. In fact, that should have been my first hint that something was up with these two guys I’d chosen from my tryst tonight. I couldn’t get drunk… at least, I shouldn’t be able to from just what I drank tonight.
They had convinced me to bring them back to my place which was, well, insane… but it’s really not the craziest thing I’ve agreed to while under the influence when I really shouldn’t have.
If I had been thinking with a clear head, I would have known that even considering bringing humans back to the campus was a horrible idea. The problem is, I wasn’t thinking with a clear head. I don’t know what they had done to me, but it had thrown me completely out of my element.
; We were nearly there when my mind started to come back to a bit and realize where I was and where we were going. My vision went a little fuzzy and I felt funny, but the guys to either side of me were holding me up, so we kept walking forward down the empty sidewalk.
“Stop!” A loud male voice boomed from the brush behind us, startling me. I turned quickly and came face-to-face with Damien.
“Damien? What are you…? Are you… following me?”
“No. I mean, yes,” he stuttered. “But for a good reason.”
“What kind of good reason is there for being a creepy stalker? Dude! People go to jail for that shit.”
“It’s not… Carmilla, just listen,” he began, his voice softer now.
“You know my name?” The two guys with me had dropped just a pace behind me as I confronted Damien.
“Girl, everyone knows your name. But that’s not the point right now. What I’m trying to tell you is that these two are not who you think they are. You cannot take them back to your room.”
“Oh, so now you’re the boss of who I can and cannot get freaky with? I’m sorry, but I don’t remember asking you, broody boy.” I turned my back to him, facing Julian and Oliver again. This Damien guy was really starting to rub me the wrong way. I mean, the audacity!
“Carmilla, no. That’s not what I mean.”
Then he somehow jumped in front of the three of us. Seriously, it was all such a flash, I could hardly tell you how it happened. This was the second time I’d seen him out here in the dark and he appeared to move in a flash.
“I cannot let you go further,” he said, stretching his arms out in front of the three of us.
“Outta the way man,” Julian said with a grimace. “Plenty of chicks back at the bar.”
“Yeah, get your own!” Oliver added.
“Okay, well it’s not like I belong to you…” I started to protest when both of the guys stepped in front of me, taking a defensive stance, as if they were ready to fight Damien.
What is happening here? I thought, but the brain fog was really getting to me. Everything seemed so hazy. I saw Damien stand strong in front of my two dates, as if he was challenging them to come at him.
I’d never really had guys fight over me before. Then again, something told me this beef had nothing to do with me anyway.
“Listen boys, there’s no reason to fight,” I said, steadying myself on the curb. Whatever was making me feel all dizzy and weird seemed to be fading now. I was starting to feel more like myself, even if a bit confused about what was going down on the sidewalk in front of me.
“You couldn’t just leave it alone, could you?” Julian yelled to Damien as he brandished a knife and began walking toward him. Again, Damien moved like the wind and shifted himself behind Oliver.
In one swift move, Oliver jumped to the side and pointed a long knife at Damien, its silver blade shining under the streetlamps. Where the hell were these two keeping their weapons? And why did they have them in the first place?
The sky grew dark above us, like it does before a storm rolls in. Then a low rumble followed, but there wasn’t supposed to be bad weather tonight.
“Look Damien,” I began to reason with him. “I am not sure what you think is going on here, but I invited them. It’s okay. I don’t need to be rescued or anything.”
“Carmilla, they’re vampire hunters!” He shouted as he dodged an incoming punch from Oliver.
What? Did he just say… Wait, that also meant that he knew what I was.
“But how do you…?”
“How do you think?” he asked.
OMG! He was one too? Of course, he was. That explained so much. Damien was a vampire! As the realization of everything sunk in with me, I ran through the whole gamut of emotions.
I felt so stupid!
I should have known that bringing those boys back to the campus was a bad idea. The real problem is that I didn’t know who they really were, so I never could have predicted just how bad an idea it was.
As I stood there processing my emotions in the middle of the street, the three guys fought very briefly with Damien clearly having the upper hand. He slammed Julian into a light pole and then Oliver yelled, “Let’s go! He’s not worth it,” and the two of them ran away into the darkness, in the opposite direction of the Academy.
“You okay?” Damien asked me.
Physically, I was fine, I think. No one had touched me, although I was now starting to wonder if they had spiked my drink. Emotionally, I was all over the place. My foggy brain seemed to be really struggling to make sense of what had just happened. And also the fact that I was going to sleep with a couple of vampire hunters.
Vampire hunters! I didn’t even realize such a thing existed. I felt so stupid. I mean, I had watched all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer so why was I so naïve to believe that there were not vampire hunters in real life?
All of this was still so new to me. I mean, of course I didn’t have it all figured out. They had not taught us anything about vampire hunters in the Academy. And what would they want with me anyway? I was just some random Year One. I barely knew how to be a vampire myself yet.
Had they just been using me to try to find an in?
“Damien, you cannot tell them back at the Academy,” I pleased.
“Yeah, they’ll have your head. Or rather, Hera will have your heart.”
“I’m serious, Damien, please! I didn’t know. Please don’t tell.”
“I won’t tell… on ONE condition?”
Jeez, was he going to try to blackmail me into sleeping with him or something? Little did he know, I had been willing to do that for free for weeks.
“Promise me you will stay away from that bar.” He didn’t ask. He just stated it like a fact. No, more like a command.
He was telling me what to do, and I really didn’t like being told what to do. I started to open my mouth to say as much, but then…
I thought better of it. If the leaders of the Academy found out I almost walked two vampire hunters right inside our gates, I wouldn’t have to worry about any of that anymore. Hera would put her magical stake through me in a heartbeat, no pun intended.
Dammit.
“Yes, I promise. I won’t go back there.”
“You swear on your life?” he said, staring me down from head to toe.
“Yeah man, whatever. I swear on my life, okay?”
He nodded and then walked me back to the gates. Once we arrived at the Academy, he didn’t go inside. He just gave a slight wave as I did, and then he disappeared into the darkness.
Chapter 18
Have you ever had a bad night of drinking where you swore off alcohol forever? I think it’s safe to say we all know I had my fair share of nights like that when I was human.
But since The Turn, well, that was not supposed to happen. It hadn’t happened… in all my nights of wild parties, I’d never even felt drunk. Before last night, I didn’t think it was possible to get drunk anymore, which is what made it all so weird what had happened with those guys.
My mind kept replaying it again and again when I was back in my room. I watched my drinks very closely when I was out in public. Your typical date-rape drugs wouldn’t do much to me now that I was a vampire, but the habit was still there. Plus, I was a bit OCD about someone touching my drinks or food.
If they got a slip on me, they’d have to be real good. Never mind the fact that regular drugs shouldn’t impact me, so what the heck did they give me?
I didn’t have the answers, but I knew it must have been something. I would not have responded that way if I was not impaired by something, and it wasn’t just the alcohol. We had already proven that didn’t do that to me anymore. If they did something to me, I would have their asses the next time I saw them, I swear!
Part of me was afraid to think of what might have happened if Damien had not been there. Another part of me was so horribly embarrassed, I wanted to forget the entire thing and pretend it never happened.
/> Too bad that wasn’t an option.
Damien had asked me to meet him today, out in town. And I had a feeling this wasn’t a typical social call. He’d said we needed to talk away from the prying eyes and ears on campus.
We met at a little ice cream stand that was popular with the tourists. It was right on the river, had amazing ice cream, and several little picnic tables you could sit at while you enjoyed your sweet treat.
When I arrived, Damien was already there. I had never seen him out in the daylight like this. It was always in a dark bar or creeping behind me in the shadows on the street. Out here in the open he was… well, a helluva lot more handsome than I had even realized.
“So, what were you doing following me anyway?” I asked as I sat down across from him at a blue picnic table. Deep down, I felt horribly embarrassed by the whole thing, but I had to play it cool in front of him. I didn’t want him thinking he had affected me like that.
“Hello to you, too, Carmilla.”
“Skip the pleasantries,” I retorted. “Tell me what’s up.”
I wasn’t,” he said, taking a big sip from his cup. “I was following them.”
“What? Oh, are you into dudes? That’s cool, man.” I suppose he found my confusion amusing because he laughed a big belly laugh just then.
“Oh, wow, he laughs? I didn’t think you were capable,” I teased.
“Eh well, you know, every now and then when something tickles my funny bone.” He took another sip from his cup and I couldn’t help but notice he had the deepest blue eyes. So sexy. I could get lost in them forever.
“No, I was following them because that’s my job.” And with that comment, I was pulled out of my daydreams.
“Your job is to stalk people?”
“My job,” he said, clearing his throat, “is to track vampire hunters.”
“Oh,” I looked down at my hands, fidgeting with my fingers. “So, there are more of them?”
Bloodlust: Mystic River Vampire Academy (Year Two) Page 7
